With the season drawing closer, and a fresh face on the roster, here are three things to watch as Russell Westbrook suits up for the Washington Wizards this season.
What a crazy start to training camp for our Washington Wizards! After speculation from Shams Charania a few weeks ago regarding a potential Russell Westbrook/John Wall swap, most fans thought that chatter had died down. The front office did their best to convince us all that it wasn’t happening. However, that wasn’t the case.
The trade did happen, and the Wizards sent John Wall and a first-round pick to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Russell Westbrook.
Source confirms: Houston traded Russell Westbrook to the Wizards for John Wall and a 2023 protected first-round pick.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 3, 2020
I know a lot of Wizards fans will be sad to see John Wall go, and they should be! John gave the franchise everything he had for a decade, raising the organization from the bottom of the standings to a multi-time playoff team. He should always be remembered fondly in D.C.
Although the Wiz decided to ship Wall out, they received an All-NBA, former MVP in return. Westbrook and Bradley Beal should be an incredibly intriguing pair moving forward. If nothing else, this move proves this is Bradley Beal’s team. With Wall gone, he is now the face of the franchise, something Westbrook knows quite a bit about after outlasting both James Harden and Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.
With the Wizards in clear win-now mode, all eyes will be on this backcourt to come out and perform. While the Westbrook trade may keep Beal happy for now, the Wizards still need to convince Beal that Washington is the place to be now and moving forward. His suitors are still out there, ready to pounce.
With Westbrook on board, there are a few storylines that will be worth watching. In the end, how these things play out will determine whether the Westbrook experiment is a success or failure in Washington.
Let’s dive in! Here are three storylines to watch as Russell Westbrook joins the Washington Wizards.
1. Can Russell Westbrook fit next to Bradley Beal?
The biggest storyline to watch with Russell Westbrook will be how he fits alongside Bradley Beal.
GM Tommy Sheppard has spent a fair amount of time this offseason reiterating not only that the Wizards will not be trading Bradley Beal but that they intend to build him around him moving forward.
One of the worries about Wall was whether he would come back and accept a role alongside Beal. Westbrook is a high usage player who has been known to put up a lot of shots and wants the ball in his hands. Last season, he posted a usage percentage of 34.4. Wall has never finished a season with a higher than 30.6 usage percentage. So how will Westbrook fair next to Beal?
With all signs pointing towards Beal being the head honcho, the squad will quickly need to figure out who the top dog will be and establish a pecking order.
Hopefully, Westbrook’s ability to coexist with James Harden (36.3 usage percentage last season) will bode well for his future with Beal. Alongside Harden, another high usage player who needs the ball in his hands a lot to be effective, Westbrook still managed to go out and average 27/8/7 last season while cruising to another All-NBA bid.
A move of this caliber doesn’t get made if the front office doesn’t think the Westbrook and Beal can coexist. It almost certainly doesn’t happen without Beal’s signing off on it either. For what it’s worth, Bill Simmons said Beal was pushing for the Westbrook trade behind the scenes when the initial rumors first broke.
Westbrook is a great player. A 9x All-Star and 9x All-NBA player who is still one of the best in the league. So if he and Beal can figure out how to make it work, we could be talking about an excellent team. Having both Beal and Westbrook at full power, able to play competently off of each other, will be a serious problem for the Eastern Conference.
How well Westbrook and Beal can play together will make or break the Wizards’ season. Whether this goes positively or negatively, it will be interesting to watch how it all unfolds.
2. Can Russell Westbrook Stay Healthy?
This next storyline is something that could define the Westbrook era in Washington. Unlike with Wall, who hasn’t played in two years, one good thing about Westbrook is that we know exactly what we are getting. H’s pedal-to-the-metal point guard who wants to get out in space and score the basketball.
The concern is how long Westbrook can keep up his ferocious style of play. He is currently 32 years old, and by the time his current contract is up, he will be 35. He is at a very delicate age where certain injuries could accelerate his decline.
Like the player he was traded for, Westbrook has a predicated game on speed and athleticism. A serious injury at this age would pretty much guarantee he takes a step back. Russ has a history of knee injuries, so although he’s been healthy while Wall’s been sidelined, that could all change instantly.
Things like on-court fit will be moot in the long run if he can not sustain his style and continue to play at a high level.
This is not to say that Russ has been injury prone. Actually, he has been very durable over his past few seasons and has only missed 29 regular-season games over the past five seasons. That includes an eight-game absence from the bubble due to a positive COVID-19 test. But there’s no denying his very real injury history.
If Westbrook can continue to keep up his high octane style and stay healthy, the Wizards will have a top-15 player on their roster for the next three seasons who will help this franchise return to prominence.
With all the miles Westbrook has racked up over the years, his health isn’t guaranteed. If nagging injuries start popping up as Westbrook nears the twilight of his career, the Wizards could be dealing with another overpriced and often-injured point guard before they know it.
3. Rebuild Ripple Effects
Today, the Washington Wizards roster currently has TEN players who are 24 years old or younger. That number is likely to shrink before opening day, but this Wizards team is young.
It’s odd hearing that such a young team has their eyes set on the playoffs, but Beal and Westbrook together elevate any team into playoff territory regardless of the supporting cast. With all of the young prospects that the Wizards have brought in over the past year, it’s safe to say that Tommy Sheppard may be covering his behind if Bradley Beal decides he wants out.
The Wizards want to win now, but their young pieces aren’t finished products. Sheppard has repeated that he doesn’t want to mortgage the team’s future, which probably includes not stifling the young guys’ progress.
How will that look playing next to Russell Westbrook for the next few seasons? Westbrook will have the ball in his hands a lot. Will that benefit or hurt guys?
Westbrook has shown at points in his career that he can be a great facilitator, and we can only hope this continues for some of these young Wizards prospects. His ability to attack the rim should force opposing defenses to collapse, opening up good looks along the perimeter. With Westbrook being a threat to penetrate the paint every time he has the ball, Rui Hachimura, Davis Bertans, and even Thomas Bryant should find themselves open on kick-outs.
It might not all be beneficial, though. Guys like Troy Brown Jr and Deni Avdija, who are both skilled playmakers, may have fewer opportunities to show off their abilities while Westbrook dominates the ball.
Regardless of how you may be feeling right this second, Russell Westbrook is a Washington Wizard, and there will be plenty to watch for as this season begins!